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compass and anticipate developments in Florentine sculpture in the
'seventies and eighties. This includes, of course, the tendency toward
a fuller, more closely knit body as well as the movement toward greater
refinement and multiplication of detail, followed bv the organization of
this detail into larger, more easily grasped units, as in the drapery and
hair of the St. Thomas.28 In Verrocchio's sculpture these changes occur
within a decade at the beginning of which the Christ must have been
fashioned and cast and at the end the St. Thomas. The records of payments and other exisiting documents, which indicate that the work on
the two figures fell into two periods, the first from about 1467 to 1470,
and the second from 1476 to 1483, also seem to support the thesis that
one figure was cast in each period.29 From the document of 1479 we
Leonardo's drawings (J. G. Phillips, "Virgin and Laughing Child," Studies in
the History of Art dedicated to W. E. Suida, London, 1959, pp. 146 ff.). It is
true that certain drapery motifs used on the Forteguerri monument and the St.
Thomas were very likely prompted by the painting, just as the beautiful
crescent-shaped arrangement of the Virgin's mantle below the waist in Leonardo's Madonna of the Rocks may have been inspired by the train of the angel
above the manger in the van der Goes. However, the concept of drapery is so
different in the painting it is doubtful if it materially affected Verrocchio's or
Leonardo's development.
28 These changes show clearly in the work of Benedetto da Majano. Compare
panels from his pulpit (1474-5) in Santa Croce, Florence with the central panel
of the altar of the Annunciation (ca. 1489) in Santa Anna dei Lombardi, Naples
(Pope-Hennessy, pis. 73,72), or compare this altarpiece with the one on which
it was based, that of the Nativity (ca. 1472-5) by Antonio Rossellino in the
same church (Pope-Hennesy, figs. 46,47.). The sculptures of Rossellino illustrate these changes but to a lesser degree. For the increase in the amount and
delicacy of detail compare Rossellino's Naples altarpiece with his earlier tomb
of the Cardinal of Portugal (1461-66) in San Miniate, Florence (Pope-Hennessy, fig. 64) and for the combination of refinement of detail with greater
monumentality of figure see the Madonna and Child in the National Gallery,
Washington, (Planiscig, Bernardo und Antonio Rossellino, Vienna, 1942, pi.
93) perhaps his last work (ca. 1478-9). There is some evidence that this relief
was left unfinished. Though the composition, which is that of the reliefs
under consideration, could have been derived from Bernardo Rossellino, it was
probably employed because of the popularity created for it by the shop of
Verrocchio and perhaps at the demand of the patron. This was Giovanni di
Jacopo Morelli, who in 1469 married Marietta Ridolfi. The imperial eagle in
the Morelli arms on the base appears there through the privilege granted by
John Palaeologus to Giovanni's father, Conte Jacopo, and to his descendants
(Croniche di . . . Morelli, ed. Fr. Ildefonso di San Luigi, Florence, 1785 in
Delizie Eruditi Toscani, Vol. XIX, pp. CXXIVOXXV; CXVI-CXVII). Clarity
of design combined with ornament diminutive in size characterizes Mino da
Fiesole's late work, e.g. Monument of Count Hugo, Badia, Florence, completed
1481 (Pope-Hennessy, fig. 62).
29 G. Gaye, Carteggio Inedito d'Artisti dei Secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Florence, 1839-
40, I, p. 370. Documents given in Gaye are quoted in Cruttwell, p. 162, note t;
cf. also Pope-Hennessy, p. 313, who reached this same conclusion but by a
somewhat different route than the one which follows in the text.
128

compass and anticipate developments in Florentine sculpture in the
'seventies and eighties. This includes, of course, the tendency toward
a fuller, more closely knit body as well as the movement toward greater
refinement and multiplication of detail, followed bv the organization of
this detail into larger, more easily grasped units, as in the drapery and
hair of the St. Thomas.28 In Verrocchio's sculpture these changes occur
within a decade at the beginning of which the Christ must have been
fashioned and cast and at the end the St. Thomas. The records of payments and other exisiting documents, which indicate that the work on
the two figures fell into two periods, the first from about 1467 to 1470,
and the second from 1476 to 1483, also seem to support the thesis that
one figure was cast in each period.29 From the document of 1479 we
Leonardo's drawings (J. G. Phillips, "Virgin and Laughing Child," Studies in
the History of Art dedicated to W. E. Suida, London, 1959, pp. 146 ff.). It is
true that certain drapery motifs used on the Forteguerri monument and the St.
Thomas were very likely prompted by the painting, just as the beautiful
crescent-shaped arrangement of the Virgin's mantle below the waist in Leonardo's Madonna of the Rocks may have been inspired by the train of the angel
above the manger in the van der Goes. However, the concept of drapery is so
different in the painting it is doubtful if it materially affected Verrocchio's or
Leonardo's development.
28 These changes show clearly in the work of Benedetto da Majano. Compare
panels from his pulpit (1474-5) in Santa Croce, Florence with the central panel
of the altar of the Annunciation (ca. 1489) in Santa Anna dei Lombardi, Naples
(Pope-Hennessy, pis. 73,72), or compare this altarpiece with the one on which
it was based, that of the Nativity (ca. 1472-5) by Antonio Rossellino in the
same church (Pope-Hennesy, figs. 46,47.). The sculptures of Rossellino illustrate these changes but to a lesser degree. For the increase in the amount and
delicacy of detail compare Rossellino's Naples altarpiece with his earlier tomb
of the Cardinal of Portugal (1461-66) in San Miniate, Florence (Pope-Hennessy, fig. 64) and for the combination of refinement of detail with greater
monumentality of figure see the Madonna and Child in the National Gallery,
Washington, (Planiscig, Bernardo und Antonio Rossellino, Vienna, 1942, pi.
93) perhaps his last work (ca. 1478-9). There is some evidence that this relief
was left unfinished. Though the composition, which is that of the reliefs
under consideration, could have been derived from Bernardo Rossellino, it was
probably employed because of the popularity created for it by the shop of
Verrocchio and perhaps at the demand of the patron. This was Giovanni di
Jacopo Morelli, who in 1469 married Marietta Ridolfi. The imperial eagle in
the Morelli arms on the base appears there through the privilege granted by
John Palaeologus to Giovanni's father, Conte Jacopo, and to his descendants
(Croniche di . . . Morelli, ed. Fr. Ildefonso di San Luigi, Florence, 1785 in
Delizie Eruditi Toscani, Vol. XIX, pp. CXXIVOXXV; CXVI-CXVII). Clarity
of design combined with ornament diminutive in size characterizes Mino da
Fiesole's late work, e.g. Monument of Count Hugo, Badia, Florence, completed
1481 (Pope-Hennessy, fig. 62).
29 G. Gaye, Carteggio Inedito d'Artisti dei Secoli XIV, XV, XVI, Florence, 1839-
40, I, p. 370. Documents given in Gaye are quoted in Cruttwell, p. 162, note t;
cf. also Pope-Hennessy, p. 313, who reached this same conclusion but by a
somewhat different route than the one which follows in the text.
128

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AMAM_Bulletin_019_003_0022.tif

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